


How to Build a Business Partner

by pinkconkonut



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gaslighting, Hermitcraft season 6, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Mentions of Death, Permadeath, Respawn Mechanics, Video Game Mechanics, hermitcraft season 7
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkconkonut/pseuds/pinkconkonut
Summary: Everybody knows that Iskall has a robotic arm, and possibly also eye, but has anyone ever considered why? Especially since one of his best friends is a redstone genius, and the other has built 2.5 robotic versions of himself.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 53





	How to Build a Business Partner

**Author's Note:**

> Do you recognise the title? That's right! I'm rewriting this because I wasn't too happy with the original version. This one, if you've read the old version, will mostly stay the same, but now it has better writing and more details!
> 
> Also, updates will be slow because I am a very busy man, so please be patient with me. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy! ;-)

A whole crowd of people came swarming out of a single Nether portal all too quickly for Grian to even begin to familiarize himself with any of the many faces he was seeing. All together, Grian counted about twenty, or so, people, including slime people, cyborg-creeper people, and possible-robot people. His number may have been a bit off, though, because they were all moving about, making it quite difficult to count, especially since he couldn’t remember any of their faces just yet. 

  
  


Along with having a wide variety of species, there were also a lot of different fashion senses. Some of which were more casual and understandable, and others he didn’t really understand, but didn’t judge. He saw a few people wearing suits, a couple sporting lab coats, and some wearing military-esque uniforms. A lack of diversity was certainly not a problem among this group of individuals.

  
  


Grian tried his very best to greet the mass of people emerging from the portal, but there really were so many of them and a lot of talking all at the same time. “Hello, my name is Gri-”

  
  


As he was beginning to introduce himself, a man with, what he assumed was, a loupe came running up to him, yelled “FOR SPARTA,” punched him on the shoulder playfully, then ran back to where he’d been standing before.

  
  


“Sorry, I just felt that when we ran through, y’know?” The man apologised, which Grian, like everyone else standing there, just laughed off. He was quite happy that some of these people already felt comfortable enough with him, the “new guy,” to start making jokes and playing around like that.

  
  


Many introductions were made, some of which Grian just knew he’d have to really try to remember, but he did find out that the “sparta” dude was called Iskall. He thought the name was kind of odd, but then again, so was everybody else’s, including his own.

  
  


After all the introductions, and some shenanigans, were made, everyone headed off in their own direction so they could get some mining and building done before the first night fell upon them. Making a starter house before the first night was probably the most important thing when starting a new world. 

  
  


Grian found himself boating around the massive island that would soon come to be known as ‘home’ to all of the Hermits. It was really exciting to think of everything he had planned. He already had an idea for an easy starter base, but was super excited to get to planning his actual base.

  
  


Seemingly hours later, Grian finally found what he was looking for: an underwater shipwreck. Although his residence would be in the ‘futuristic’ district, he’d planned on using the wreck as an easy, underwater starter base since most of the building was already done for him. All he’d have to do was clear out the water and surround it with glass. Surely that would be easier than gathering a bunch of materials and building it from scratch. Surely.

  
  


As it turned out, making a house out of a shipwreck deep underwater was actually an absolute pain in the bum to do. Many a time, Grian had come very close to dying due to nearly drowning or to a trident-throwing drowned. Both of which really hurt, but he, somehow, managed to make it out alive. The first day, and night, on a new world truly were the hardest, but at least it could only go up from there, he thought. 

  
  


Grian sat atop the square-ish platform he’d made to drop sand from, snacking on some of what little food he had left after all of his near-death experiences thus far. The sun was still quite high in the sky, despite how long it felt like he’d been working. At least that meant he had plenty more time to finish his base before he started seeing skeletons shooting at him from the nearby shore and even more drowned than he already had to deal with. Although, that knowledge didn’t do anything to help the fact that he was already worn out.

  
  


He’d actually still be working on his base right now if sand didn’t take so long to smelt into glass. The reason he needed so much of it was so he could make what was basically a ship in a bottle. He’d had the idea to do it from the moment he heard about the new shipwrecks.

  
  


_Finally_ , after waiting around for what was actually a fairly short period of time made to feel longer by all the waiting he had to do, all of the glass had finished smelting. He quickly took it and put it all into his inventory before heading back down to, what would soon be, his temporary home. 

  
  


As it turned out, placing glass underwater with the constant threat of drowning or being attacked was way more difficult than what Grian thought was necessary. The amount of glass he’d wasted due to misplacement because of drowned attacking him was just ridiculous. It was especially bad because he only made just enough glass, with few to spare, so all the misplacing, _without having a silktouch pickaxe_ , meant he’d have to wait even longer for even more sand to smelt into glass.

  
  


After placing the last piece of glass he had left, Grian headed back up to his platform to make some more, but not before picking up a bit more sand to smelt. He sighed as he placed it all into the furnace. Only then did he realise he’d need to get more coal to actually smelt it. It was fine, though, he supposed. He could stand to get more food anyway, and it wouldn’t hurt to grab some more wood on the way, in case he needed to make more tools later on when he went mining.

  
  


Although he could’ve just as easily swam over, Grian took his wooden boat the short distance over to the nearby shore and began climbing up the cliff, mining out any exposed coal he found along the way. He did have to walk just a little bit in order to find some cows, sheep, and trees, but he was just glad he’d found some. On his little quest for resources, Grian realised that he didn’t actually have a bed yet. It would have been a real shame to go through all the trouble of wearing himself out to make that base and then have to sleep on the floor, so it was a good thing he decided to go after sheep as well as cows.

  
  


Upon returning to his little platform just above the ocean, he heard a ping from his communicator. Grian put all of his recently-gathered materials into their respective places, be it a furnace or a chest, before checking out who was trying to message him. He was very happy to find that it was the one person on this world he knew best, Mr. Mumbo Jumbo. 

  
  


**< MumboJumbo> hey G**

**< MumboJumbo> you wanna come hang out for a bit?**

  
  


Grian smiled. It really was nice to have someone he already knew pretty well among dozens of others he’d never even heard of. It was also nice to have something more entertaining to do while waiting for his stacks of sand to smelt.

  
  


**< Grian> sure!**

**< Grian> coords?**

  
  


Mumbo sent him the coordinates of his starter base, which, Grian realised, was actually a lot closer to his own than he’d originally thought. Of course he saw the map they used in order to plan out what districts would be where and what pieces of land belonged to who, but it still came as a bit of a shock. A happy shock, though.

  
  


Despite knowing it wasn’t too far, the boat ride over the vast blue ocean still felt like it took decades. ‘At least I don’t have to walk over,’ he thought. Even just the idea of it was making him incredibly tired, although that could probably be attributed to all of the work he’d been trying to cram into the few short hours before dusk.

  
  


As soon as the land that was one of Mumbo’s many small islands came into view, Grian felt relief. This would be his first time actually hanging out with the legendary redstoner, so saying he was excited was quite a bit of an understatement. He pulled his boat ashore and made his way past the sandy beach and over to a cute little tree house.

  
  


“Mumbo?” Grian called, hoping that the man in question wasn’t just trying to pull a prank on him. 

  
  


“Oh! That was fast. I’m up here.” The mustachioed man replied, beckoning the other to join him atop the little oak tree. Grian could help but laugh at Mumbo’s remark on his speed.

  
  


“What do you mean “fast”? That took actual _ages_!” He commented between his giggles.

  
  


“I guess I just didn’t expect you to be so close by.” Mumbo joined in Grian’s giggles. 

  
  


Once Grian reached the top of the tree, he gave his friend a firm hug, to which Mumbo hugged him back. “I’m glad you finally joined us!” Mumbo smiled as they pulled back from each other. “I can’t wait to hang out with you more and see what kind of stuff you’ll build!” Grian smiled back.

  
  


“Me too… It’s nice to be here, but also, there are _so many_ people to learn the names of here… I’m honestly not sure I’ll ever remember them all!” They both laughed some more.

  
  


“Eh, you’ll get used to it.” Mumbo shrugged. Of course it wasn’t hard for him to remember all of them; he’d known most of them for so many years now! 

  
  


After their laughter died out into shallow sighs, Grian asked, “so… is this your starter base? I like the idea of building it around the tree.”

  
  


“Oh, thanks. This is super temporary, though. I just needed a place to store all the materials I’ve gathered without getting blown up by creepers.” They both laughed a bit more, both knowing that struggle full well, then Mumbo continued. “What about you? Have you got a starter base yet?”

  
  


“Yeah, I was just working on it before you messaged me, which I’m glad you did because I was starting to get really tired of working on it and waiting for the stupid glass to smelt. Do you have any idea how hard it is to build underwater?!” Grian feigned frustration to exaggerate how hard it was. Mumbo just laughed at his struggles.

  
  


“What are you building underwater? Wouldn’t it be easier to just build on land?” Mumbo replied when he finished laughing.

  
  


“See, I thought I could cheat by making an air bubble around a shipwreck, but it’s _so_ hard with all these stupid drowned getting in the way.” Mumbo hummed in understanding.

  
  


“Yeah, that makes sense. I’m honestly surprised you haven’t died yet, then.” His dark eyebrows were raised as high as they possibly could. “Actually, I’m surprised I haven’t seen _any_ death messages in the chat yet.” He pulled out his communicator and looked through the messages quickly to double check.

  
  


Grian thought about it for a moment. It was kind of peculiar that not a single person had died yet, especially considering it was the first day, but then again, that could be why. They hadn’t yet had their first night, which was when it pretty much guaranteed that someone would die. 

  
  


“That _is_ pretty odd, but it’s bound to happen eventually.” After that, they both sat in comfortable silence for a bit. Grian really appreciated Mumbo’s company, even if it meant he wasn’t getting closer to finishing his base. It was nice to just talk to someone every once in a while.

  
  


While enjoying their quiet little time, both of their communicators pinged simultaneously, effectively breaking the sweet silence. Grian quickly pulled out his own communicator to see what was up while Mumbo decided to just let Grian take care of it. No point in them both reading the same message when one could easily do it for the both of them.

  
  


As if their little conversation about deaths had brought it about, the very first death message appeared in the chat. Grian read it aloud so Mumbo could know what was going on.

  
  


**iskall85 was slain by drowned**

**< Xisuma> D-:**

**< Stressmonster101> oh no!!**

  
  


A couple of other Hermits responded to the death message with variations of “are you okay?” or just “F,” and offers to help him retrieve his belongings, to which they all received no reply.

  
  


“Huh, I wonder if he’s alright.” Mumbo said, concerned for his best friend. Grian just shrugged.

  
  


“He hasn’t said anything yet, but I’m sure he’s just more worried about finding his stuff at the moment.”

  
  


“I hope so. Kinda funny how that happened after we were just talking about it, don’t you think?”

  
  


“Yeah.” They fell back into another comfortable silence, but not for nearly as long before Mumbo spoke up again.

  
  


“Hey, do you wanna go for a walk or something? My back’s starting to hurt sitting on the floor like this.” The man offered, to which Grian happily agreed, already beginning to stand up and stretch out his limbs with his joints giving out little ‘pops.’ They walked one after the other down the steps leading up to the top of the tree then side by side around the island, chatting it up as they went.

  
  


The island wasn’t big by any standards, but it was definitely a decent size for walking around to waste time. It also had a nice view of the ocean, which was made even better by the beginnings of what looked to be a beautiful sunset. 

  
  


“… have you ever _seen_ my past builds, though? I mean, they’re all just circles and geometry! I don’t think that qualifies me to be a good builder by any means.” Mumbo gestured into the air as he ranted about his, self-proclaimed, lack of building skills.

  
  


“Well, compared to _my_ redstone skills, you’re basically a god!” Grian exclaimed, laughing as he did so. “The only redstone I’ve ever managed to make work ended up turning against me! Honestly, I’ll teach you to build if you teach me some redstone.” He sighed.

  
  


“It’s a de- wait a tick… what do you mean it ‘turned against’ you?” Mumbo turned towards Grian, laughing, but there was definitely a hint of genuine concern in there.

  
  


“Oh! I built two robot versions of myself to help me with stuff, but it turns out robots don’t really like being told what to do, which makes sense, I guess. I don’t really like being told what to do either.” Grian thought about it. That would explain why they _strongly disliked_ him, though. “But don’t worry about it. Neither of them have managed to kill me yet, and they’re both decommissioned and locked in my closet back on my homeworld.” At that point, he wouldn’t be surprised if Mumbo thought he was joking; it did sound completely ridiculous, and quite possibly made-up.

  
  


“You know what? If me teaching you redstone will prevent something like that from actually happening, then I’m all for it. Especially if you throw in some building lessons for me.” They both laughed it all off.

  
  


“Deal.” Grian said, turning right to face Mumbo and holding out his right hand, prompting the other to shake on it, to which the other complied. 

  
  


“Deal.” Mumbo agreed. After they finished laughing about the whole thing, Grian noticed that the sun was getting dangerously low on the horizon.

  
  


“Well, I think it’s about time I head back. Don’t wanna have the same fate as our friend, Iskall.” Grian laughed. “Thanks for inviting me over. I’ve had fun talking to you.”

  
  


“Anytime.” Mumbo replied sincerely. “Try not to die on your way home.” He smiled. After that, Grian hopped back into his little wooden boat and set sail back to his own, albeit unfinished, starter base.

  
  


Mumbo sighed contentedly. It was quite refreshing to just have a chat every now and then, especially in times as stressful as the start of a new world. He looked out to the horizon at the sunset. The way the orange-y pink light reflected off the water was just downright gorgeous. Perhaps a bit of solo-walking would do him some good before the mobs started showing up, just to really take in the scenery, and perhaps even get some more ideas for his future base.

  
  


The mustached man spent the better part of an hour walking all the way back around his little island to the beach where Grian had left him. The sun was now nearly completely consumed by the ocean and the sky had gotten significantly darker. ‘Better get to sleeping,’ Mumbo thought, worried about the threat of mobs, specifically creepers, spawning and killing him. 

  
  


Just as he turned around to start heading to his little treehouse, a dark figure lying in the sand of his beach caught his attention. The thing was barely noticeable because of how dark it was getting, and he figured it could just be a drowned or a bunch of kelp that washed up. For the life of him, he couldn’t tell what, or _who_ , it was from this far, and it was beginning to bother him, so he decided to creep closer so as to get a better look at it, whatever it was. 

  
  


Mumbo drew a torch from his inventory and began, ever so slowly, approaching the thing. The closer he got, the more details he was able to make out. It was definitely person-shaped, but it could, very easily, just be a washed up drowned. He dared to step closer.

  
  


As soon as he was close enough to clearly see what it was under the light of his torch, he gasped and dropped everything, frantically reaching for his communicator. He immediately contacted the first name that he saw.

  
  


**< MumboJumbo> Grian! Come back!**

**< MumboJumbo> Hurry!!!**

  
  


Grian was confused when he received the message, and just a tad bit annoyed, as he had just gotten back to his platform. He turned back around, though, ready to help his friend with whatever it was he needed.

  
  


**< Grian> omw**

  
  


For some reason, the ride back to Mumbo’s island seemed shorter, but Grian didn’t question it because he was more focused on why Mumbo needed him to come back so urgently. He arrived on the same shore he’d left from and was immediately met with what he thought to be what Mumbo was so concerned about.

  
  


In front of Mumbo laid a body. It was definitely one of his fellow Hermits, but he couldn’t remember which one it was.

  
  


“I think I know why Iskall didn’t respond to anyone earlier.” Mumbo said in a tone Grian couldn’t quite place. It was like he was trying to make a joke but was too sad to make it funny. So it was Iskall whose body had washed up. 

  
  


“Oh my goodness! What happened to him?!” Grian exclaimed, rushing out of his boat and over to where Mumbo was crouching beside the body.

  
  


“I don’t know! I was just taking a little walk after you left, and when I got back here, I found him all soggy and washed up on the beach!” Mumbo explained, a hint panic evident in his voice.

  
  


“Alright. Calm down, Mumbo. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this. Did you check his pulse or something first? I mean, for all we know, he could just be playing some horribly cruel prank on us.” Grian attempted to reason.

  
  


“I- gosh, why am I such a spoon?! No, I didn’t check his pulse.” Mumbo seemed disappointed in himself for not thinking of that before calling anyone over, but Grian tried to reassure him. The blonde put two fingers just below where Iskall’s jaw met his throat. He held it there for a good few seconds before looking up to his friend with a sad look on his face. Mumbo knew exactly what he meant without him even having to say anything.

  
  


“But how is that even possible?! We’re supposed to be able to respawn no matter how we die!” It was very clear that Mumbo was upset about the death of his friend. Who wouldn’t be?

  
  


“Hey, hey, calm down. I’m sure there’s a reason he’s not respawning. Why don’t you call Xisuma and see if he knows what’s going on?” Grian suggested. Mumbo took a couple of deep breaths before nodding in agreement.

  
  


“Yeah, okay. You’re right.” He took out his communicator and immediately began contacting their admin. He really hoped there was a good reason for what was happening.

  
  


It took quite a while, due to lack of fast transportation, for Xisuma to arrive on the scene, but the other two were quite relieved when he finally made it over.

  
  


“Alright, I’m here. Explain to me again what’s going on?” The admin kneeled beside Grian.

  
  


Mumbo was the first to respond. “Earlier, Iskall was killed by a drowned, and I guess he never respawned, so then I found him here, washed up on my beach, dead.” He explained. Xisuma nodded, checking for a pulse, similar to how Grian did earlier.

  
  


“Do you think you can fix the issue?” Grian asked quietly. Xisuma hummed, opening up a small hologram control panel from the armour covering his left forearm- Grian was surprised; he honestly had no idea it could do that.- From there, he began looking at a bunch of seemingly nonsensical codes. How could he even tell what any of them meant?

  
  


After a good few minutes scouring the code and doing some typing of what looked to be random assortments of letters and numbers and other symbols, Xisuma finally spoke up with an answer to Grian’s question. “So I have good news, and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that I found the problem and was able to fix it before anyone else was able to die.” In his pause between emotionally contrasting news, both Mumbo and Grian sighed a sigh of relief, but quickly got back to holding their breaths as their admin continued. “The bad news is that I don’t know if I can bring Iskall back.”

  
  


“You- You _don’t think_ ? what do you mean you “don’t think”?! You’re the admin! You should be able to proper fix this mess!” Grian honestly didn’t think Mumbo had it in him to get this worked up and emotional, not that he thought it was completely irrational or unjustified. The mustached man stood up and walked angrily over to Xisuma, who stood up to match Mumbo. “You _have_ to be able to fix this! I- I can’t let him-”

  
  


“Woah, hey, Mumbo, calm down.” Xisuma held his arms stretched out, gesturing for Mumbo to be embraced in his hug, which he accepted. Mumbo buried his face in the admin’s shoulder, softly weeping. “I know you’re upset, and you have every right to be. I’m sure we’re all upset to have lost our good friend to some stupid derp.”

  
  


Grian felt kind of out of place, but didn’t want to disturb the moment. “I’m sure there’s got to be _something_ we can do, right, X?” Grian offered. He himself had absolutely no idea where to even begin looking for a solution, but he would definitely do whatever it might take in order to not have one of his brand-new friends not die.

  
  


“I’m not sure exactly, but I’ll try to look up any possible way to bring him back.” Xisuma grabbed Mumbo by the shoulders and pried him off of his own shoulder so he could look at him directly. “We _will_ figure out something, Mumbo. I promise.” Mumbo sniffed. His face was red, and whether that be from his crying or his embarrassment for crying in front of his friends, X wasn’t sure. What he was sure of, though, was that they would all try their hardest to sort everything out and make things right.

  
  


Mumbo muttered a weak ‘thank you’ before hugging his friend again, this time, with Grian joining in.

  
  


Xisuma waved his goodbyes after prying himself from the holds of the other two men, loading Iskall’s corpse into his boat so he could preserve the body, just in case they ended up finding a way to bring him back. After he left, Mumbo turned to look at Grian’s exhausted-looking face.

  
  


“Grian, we’re friends, right?” Mumbo asked. Grian thought it was kind of an odd question, but answered anyway.

  
  


“Yeah, we are.” He tilted his blonde head in concern. “Why do you ask?”

  
  


“Because you’re going to stay up with me and help me find a way to bring Iskall back. Like a sleepover, except we’re not going to sleep.” Grian could suddenly feel just how exhausted he was.

  
  


“I mean, I’m not opposed to a sleepover, but didn’t X just say he was going to look into it himself?” That response earned a scowl from Mumbo.

  
  


“He’s the one who derped up in the first place! How can we know he won’t mess it up again? Besides, with more people working on it, we’re bound to find the answer sooner, right?” Mumbo put a hand on Grian’s shoulder and put on the best pleading face he could muster up.

  
  


“I… guess it wouldn’t hurt for us to look into it as well. But don’t be surprised or mad if I end up falling asleep because I already know I will.” Mumbo’s expression softened at that.

  
  


“Don’t worry, we’ll figure out a solution before that happens.” Grian gave him a look of “are you sure about that?” before following him back to his treehouse base, both already brainstorming possible solutions, although Grian’s thoughts may have been more about sleeping than problem-solving.


End file.
